South Korea, Dancers Performing Tongyong Drum Dance (Victory Dance). by Foulk, George Clayton, 1856-1893 Photographer.

Foulk, George Clayton, 1856-1893 Photographer.

1884-01-01

photo, print, drawing

Library of Congress

Several young women in traditional clothing stand around a large drum in a room with large windows and wooden architectural elements. The image is a sepia-toned photograph with visible handwritten text below. This image, showing four female Korean dancers, is one of 43 photographs of Korea taken by George Clayton Foulk between 1883 and 1886 and held at the American Geographical Society Library at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Foulk's note on the image reads: "Kisaing dancing girls of the Governors House at Chung Ju-Choula Province, taken as they were about to execute a drum dance for my edification." Foulk was a young naval officer who served as a U.S. diplomat in Korea in the 1880s. He was first sent to the country in 1883 with a Korean delegation as the only person in U.S. government service qualified to serve as an interprete